A “Virtual Package” is a technique (i) for generating package information that integrally indicates what is recorded on a Read-Only recording medium such as a BD-ROM and what is recorded on a readable/writable recording medium such as a hard disk and (ii) for playing back or executing digital streams and application programs (hereafter, simply referred to as application) that are recorded on these recording mediums as if they were recorded in one package that is virtual.
According to this technique, by updating the data recorded on the rewritable hard disk, it is possible to change the contents of the production as an entire Virtual Package even after the BD-ROM is distributed. For example, even after a BD-ROM having a movie production is able to advertise most recent movie productions to users no matter when the BD-ROM is distributed, by supplying movie-trailer digital streams for other unreleased movie productions via a network.
Prior Art related to Virtual Packages is published in the Patent Document shown below:
[Patent Document 1]
International Publication WO 2004/030356 A1 Publication